Starbucks Home-Brews Aren’t Cheap; GMCR Keeps Falling

By Avi Salzman

The market signaled another shift in the battle for coffee supremacy on Thursday, as Starbucks (SBUX) unveiled its single-serve coffee brewer and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) shares plunged. The Verismo, all shiny and new, apparently impressed investors and threatened GMCR’s 90% share of the single-cup market.

One thing to note about Starbucks’ new system: one of the steaming lattes will cost you quite a chunk of change, even though you’re the one making it. A 12-ounce latte costs $2.75 in stores on average, notes Marketwatch’s Jen Wieczner. If you make the same sized cup in the Verismo, it will cost you about $2.45. Using a more traditional espresso machine to make the same latte can save you about 40%. Whether coffee drinkers will flinch at that price is still up for question — we’ve reported in the past about how coffee drinkers don’t seem particularly price-conscious.

Meanwhile, Green Mountain shares have not recovered from Thursday’s tumble, falling another 4.7% in midday trading. Today, the company appointed new chief logistics and chief information officers.

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The blog is written by Ben Levisohn, a former stock trader who has covered financial markets for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and BusinessWeek.